recently, while rereading one of my favorite feng shui texts, interior design with feng shui by sarah rossbach, I realized that everything in my room was arranged completely wrong. although it was past midnight, I couldn't help but get up & rearrange all of my furniture right away. I tried to be as quiet as I could so as not to wake my roommates, swapping the position of my desk & my bed all by myself.

I had already studied feng shui for quite a while, but I hadn't yet put some key concepts into practice. that very week after I made these adjustments I noticed positive changes in my mood & my life, and as cliche as it sounds, with my finances too.

I want to share some of the things that worked for me & some of my own takes on how to apply feng shui to your bedroom. feel free to pick & choose things to try and most of all, have fun caring for your space & making it your own sacred place of sanctuary.

tip #1: know your bagua basics

in feng shui, aspects of your life are affected by the position of objects in your room, correlated with something called the bagua map.

traditional feng shui maps the bagua onto spaces with compass directions — north, south, east, west. the more popular method in the US, & the method that I use, is from the black sect tantric buddhist school. this method maps the bagua onto your space in relation to how you enter the room.

for me, the key changes were to put my desk in my career area, my bed in my marriage corner, and my reading chair & house plants in my helpful people corner. I also decided to store my guitar, my journals, & my new tsii made jewelry collections in my fame area.

while some of the areas sound very ambitious or high-reaching, like wealth, knowledge, & fame, I prefer to interpret them graciously & modestly. wealth means abundance & the ability to be generous, fame means the ability to have a positive influence & to nurture self-confidence.

tip #2: keep your chi in & moving

one of the things that I realized I had been doing wrong, a basic no-no in feng shui, was keeping my toilet lid up all the time. chi, one of the main concepts of feng shui, is life force & energy and is in & around us all the time. ideally, you want chi to be able to flow through your space & not be either trapped or drained away. toilets are one of the main ways chi can escape, so if you have a bathroom adjoining your bedroom, be sure to keep the lid down between uses. this was the change that I believe had the biggest influence on my finances — my bathroom connects to my room in my wealth corner & I had been leaving the lid up all the time, draining my wealth away all day!

in addition to toilets, check on your doors & mirrors. mirrors are generally great & are the go-to fix for any feng shui problem, but when it comes to the bedroom it is a little trickier. generally speaking, you don't want a mirror visible from your bed because any movements reflected in the dark might startle a half-asleep person. however, use mirrors to open up your space in narrow areas & to reflect beautiful views from outside to bring them into your room. keeping doors to closets shut will keep the chi in your main living space instead of your storage space.

tip #3: view of the door

for peace of mind, make sure that you have a clear view of the door from your bed & your desk.

the best place to put your bed is in the corner opposite your door. coincidentally, this is often in the marriage corner, which is also a positive position for relationships & connections. this position allows you to feel secure & get the best night's sleep. similarly, position your desk so that you have a view of the door while working. I had had my desk with my back to the door, the worst option for a desk in feng shui. since I moving my desk I've been using it a lot more & have been coming up with many more creative ideas.

tip #4: plants plants plants!

like mirrors, house plants are a great cure-all in feng shui.

any area of your bagua can be enhanced with a plant. be sure to pick one that will thrive in your climate & lighting — dying or dead plants are bad for your chi. caring for plants is a true joy & brings life & chi into your space.

tip #5: colors matter

like the bagua map, colors correspond with different aspects of life & different attributes in feng shui. but you should also get to know your own personal responses to color.

for some thoughts about colors in psychology, feng shui, & the chakras, check out our hue color guide. however, just as important as these tried & true attributes are how you personally respond to colors. fill your room with colors that you love & that calm & inspire you. your space should be a place to create, rejuvenate, & rest so make the colors reflect what those things mean to you.

tip #6: tidy & organize

disorder in your space reflects disorder in your life. when in doubt, tidy!

everything is always changing & in motion. organizing is a constant & ongoing task — try to learn to love & enjoy it! there is nothing more nurturing for your space than cleaning & cleansing it. feng shui teaches that if you find yourself consistently leaving a mess in a certain area of your bagua map, you have, or soon will have a problem in the corresponding area of your life. do yourself a favor & keep all of the areas of your bagua lovely & inspiring. this means making your bed each morning, getting rid of things you no longer need, & cleaning up after your creative indulgences & the wild beautiful chaos of living.

tip #7: if a tree falls in the forest, does it affect your chi?

yes!

just because you tuck away the mess doesn't mean it won't have an influence. pay special attention to your closets, drawers, & cubbies to be sure that you aren't missing important areas. I am always making sure that the things in my cupboards & closets are really things that I need, love, & use.

thank you for reading & have fun trying some feng shui practices in your space.